To Hear You Laugh
by Slovenskych
Summary: In the winter of 1918, Belarus find herself completely abandoned and helpless to stop the invading German army. But what begins as utter loathing for the man who has taken everything away from her slowly turns into something more than she could have ever imagined. WWI, Prubel, rated T for swearing.
1. A Stolen Heart

**I really wanted to write for Belarus, because she is such an awesome character and she just doesn't get enough love. Believe it or not, this pairing actually has some history behind it, although I will not be revealing that until the end.**

**Note: Just to clarify, this is NOT WWII, this is WWI, which means that Nazis didn't exist yet, and tanks were only experiments at the time. They still used horses, guys. Even in Russian winters. (Kids, don't try this at home.)**

**This first chapter is very historical, but after that we can screw history and get right down to the fluff. ;) Enjoy!**

The Russian army was long gone. They had fled and scattered like ice crystals across the tundra. The military bases were eerily quiet, the hospital beds empty. A strange silence had settled in the streets and the homes of Minsk. The very earth and frosty morning air seemed to be waiting, holding its breath for what was to happen next.

Through the still morning air there was a disturbance – a crunching, a marching, a moving of a mass group of men with their horses and guns and supplies. They crept over the horizon, an ink stain spreading across the snow in black tendrils coming to choke the life out of anyone who was foolish enough to stand in their path.

In the white wonderland of snow there stood a single figure. Midnight blue skirts flapped and twirled in the breeze, glistening white strands of hair brushing across smooth porcelain cheeks. Two eyes of hardened cobalt stared unblinking into the wind, even as tiny snowflakes came to find their rest on graceful lashes. Deceivingly dainty fingers curled around the holsters of two daggers, sharp and glistening like metal fangs. Thin pale lips pressed into a determined line – a line that would not be broken, a nation that would not go down without a fight.

There were no soldiers. There were no rifles. There was only the army, and the ice, and the woman standing between them and her Capital with nothing but a pair of daggers with which to defend herself.

Most would say that she was crazy. But to Natalia Arlovskaya, 'crazy' was an old accusation. She didn't care what people thought of her, as long as they didn't think that she was weak.

The teeming beast before her grew louder as it marched forward, the scent of men's body odor and gun powder filling her lungs. Natalia wrinkled her nose in disgust. She should have expected this – most masses of men who hadn't bathed in weeks had the tendency to reek to the high heavens. But there was something particularly repulsive about the Germans, something foreign and sickly that made her skin crawl.

All at once, the marching stopped. Through the wind she could hear some discussions in German, then a figure began moving towards her. Natalia dug her heels into the snow, her eyes narrowing and fists curling around her knives. As the figure drew nearer, Natalia could make out a scruffy white head of hair. She clenched her teeth, ignoring the slight flutter of nervousness in the back of her mind. It was not the first time she had met him. She had witnessed this red-eyed devil in combat, had seen what horrific things he was capable of. But back then she had been under Lithuania's protection. Now, she would have to face him alone.

His eyes were two pools of glistening rubies, striking amid the blinding white of the sky and the snow, his skin and his hair and his teeth. His lips curled into a cat-like grin as he approached her, his stride proud and sure. Natalia felt rage boil inside of her – how _dare_ this beast have the audacity to smile while he took her Capital away! She brought the knives up to her face, her knees bent and ready to spring forward at any moment, to stain the white with blossoms of red.

The crunch of snow paused as he stopped a few meters away, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

"What do we have here? A little Snow Princess defending her castle?"

"You take your disgusting men out of my country this instant," She demanded, her voice as cold as the icicles that adorned the city houses.

To her fury, his smile only widened. "Or what, you'll prick me with those twigs you call weapons? Kesesese!"

Natalia sprung forward and jabbed with the dagger, but in the last second he managed to leap out of the way so that the razor-sharp edge only ripped the threads of his uniform. A strong pale hand constricted around her wrist, rendering the dagger useless. Before she could stab with her other hand, he twisted his arm around hers so that her back was pressed against his chest. Hot breath panted in her ear as a low voice purred,

"Es tut mir leid, Fraulein, I forgot to introduce myself. I am the Awesome Prussia, and I am here to awesomely conquer you."

Natalia struggled and fought with all her might, but he was much stronger than she. Her heart thundered in her chest, her skin tingling like fire in every place that he touched her. "Release me at once, you beast!" she shrieked.

"And _you_ must be Belarus!" Prussia continued cheerfully, as if they were two strangers getting acquainted at a dinner party. "I've heard stories about you…"

Natalia dropped the daggers, twisting her wrists around so that she was able to sink her nails into the white flesh of his skin. Prussia let out a shriek of pain and released her, staring wide-eyed at the droplets of blood dripping into his sleeves. Natalia darted forward to pick her knives from the ground, but stopped short when a gunshot ripped through the air.

"Halt!"

Her head shot up to see that a platoon of German soldiers had rushed forward, a row of glinting rifle barrels pointed directly at her.

"Keine Bewegung! Minsk wird nun von Deutschland kontrolliert!"

Natalia sat frozen in the snow, her knees becoming numb, bloodied hand hovering over the daggers that she knew could do nothing to save her Capital. If she reached for the dagger, she would be shot. If she surrendered, she would be humiliated.

Natalia didn't care what people thought of her. They could think she was crazy, they could think she was undisciplined, but they could NOT think that she was weak.

As her hand shot into the snow, gunshots ripped through the air and whizzed past her ears. She leaned over, cradling the dagger in her hand and squeezing her eyes shut, waiting for the moment when she would be torn apart.

Then, as soon as it had started, it stopped.

Natalia trembled, her breath coming in hot pants and condensing into cold droplets on the dagger blade. Her ears rang from the noise of the fire-arms, her heart pounding so furiously against her chest that she was sure the German officers could hear it.

"Princess, are you alright?"

She swallowed her fear and sat up, her fingers curled tightly around the hilt of the dagger. She did not let a drop of emotion show in her face, sending Prussia a murderous glare.

"You will address me as _Belarus_," She growled. The marching resumed, carts and trucks creaking to life and rumbling forward. The snow crunched in a sickening rhythm, the soldier's boots wet and slippery from hours of drudging through the tundra. Natalia could only sit in the snow as they passed, her dress becoming soaked and her small form trembling in the cold.

"What were you trying to do, _kill_ yourself?"

She looked up to send Prussia a cold glare. "I would rather _die _than watch your repulsive government seize control over my people."

"Well that would be waste." Prussia snorted, crossing his arms. "Those officers would have shot you if I hadn't stopped them. The Awesome Me saved your life!" He was grinning now, and held out a hand to her.

Natalia stared for a moment, then she realized what he was trying to do. "I do not need you to rescue me," she snarled, swiping at his hand with the dagger. He pulled it back just in time, hissing through his teeth. "Damn, Princess! What are you trying to do, _kill _me?"

"Yes."

For whatever reason, Prussia seemed to find that hysterically funny. He leaned over and cackled as Natalia struggled to her feet, her legs completely numb from the snow. Suddenly he stopped, those ruby eyes scanning her with a look of intrigue. Natalia could almost feel his gaze examining every inch of her. She clenched her fists at her sides, resisting the urge to strangle this hideous man.

"You must be freezing. Don't you Slavs know how to dress for the cold?" He said, then before she could answer he leapt onto the back of a truck and pulled off a thick German coat. He held it out to her, but Natalia only looked in horror and took a step backwards.

"I will not wear that."

"Why not? It'll keep you warm."

"What do _you_ care!" She shouted, taking yet another step away from him. "You are here to seize control of my government by force – how _dare_ you mock me by offering me that – that hideous thing! As if I cannot take care of myself, as if I am concerned about something as pathetic as the temperature!"

"Fine, your funeral." He shrugged and swung the coat around his shoulder, completely indifferent to her outburst. Natalia's mouth fell open – she had never been ignored before. Even Ivan was wary of her, and if she ever yelled at Katushya, her sister would dissolve into tears. But Prussia had completely brushed it away, leaving Natalia with the guilty feeling that she had just been throwing a child's fit.

"You mock me," She growled.

Prussia raised an eyebrow. "I only mock people I hate, Princess. But if I _was_ mocking you then I would probably be stalking around the place looking like I want to murder everyone."

"At least I am not grinning like an idiot," She shot back. "You act like a three-year old. It is a wonder how your military obeys you at all."

Prussia laughed. "Well the answer to that is simple, Princess: They obey me because I'm Awesome! Kesesese!"

There was a snort as a horse approached, its nostrils flaring and releasing a puff of fog. Natalia craned her neck to look into the face of a thickly build man with a bushy mustache. "Preußen!"He barked in a deep voice. Prussia swiveled around and gave a snappy salute.

"General! Was ist los?"

"Alle Befehlsgewalt geht von uns aus. Außerdem brauche ich Züge, die für uns Verstärkung holen können."

"Jawhol," Prussia answered, then spun around to send Natalia a grin that sent chills down her spine. " Hey, Princess – "

"My _name_ is Belarus," she growled, wishing that if she glared at him hard enough then maybe he would experience some kind of pain. As usual, Prussia completely ignored her.

" – We were wondering if you could give us a little tour of your town… and by town I really mean train station."

Natalia was filled with rage. She knew the Germans wanted control of her rail lines so that they could ship in supplies from the west. It was pointless to try and prevent them from doing this, but she would fight back in any small way she could.

"Find it yourself," she snarled.

Prussia let out an exasperated sigh, then he nodded towards the General. He barked an angry order in German, and suddenly Natalia found herself surrounded by soldiers wielding rifles, waiting for the order to shoot.

"Let's try that again," Prussia was smiling, his blood red eyes sparkling with arrogance. "Which way to the train station?"

Natalia bore a hole through his head with her eyes. "You are disgusting."

Prussia chuckled. "I think you're confusing that with the word, 'Awesome.' Kesesese!"

"You are too stupid to even know the _meaning_ of that word," she spat, then turned on her heel and followed the hundreds of boot prints into the center of the city.

Natalia's heart ached as she watched the lines of German soldiers marching through her streets, their pointed helmets bobbing like knives perched on a sea of moving boulders. Women returning from the market looked down as they hurried along the sidewalks, slamming the doors shut and drawing the curtains closed. Natalia caught glimpses of the wide eyes of children as they peered out of the windows, watching as these strange men overtook the streets of their city.

"Not a bad place you got here."

She swiveled her head to glare at the Prussian. This was not just a 'place' – this was her home, this was her heart! And he was taking from her, ripping out of her chest with that disgusting smile plastered across his face as if this was some kind of game! Natalia had to take a deep breath to calm the rage that burned like fire in her veins, gripping the skirts of her dress so that her nails would not puncture holes into her palms. She hated this man. She hated each and every soldier, every gun and every horse and every filthy German that crawled across her land. And yet here she was, absolutely helpless as they infested her Capital like a rampant disease.

At last they reached the train station. It was small – two stationhouses lined the platforms, dotted with the occasional bench. A train had just pulled into one of the platforms, steam curling and hissing from the engine. Passengers were beginning to unload, heavy coats and ushankas bustling onto the icy pavement. Suddenly there were loud barking orders from behind her. All at once German soldiers rushed forward into the station, flooding the sidewalks and leaping onto the cars. The crowd seemed electrified with panic, passengers shouting in alarm as they were swarmed with the grey uniforms and rifles.

"Diese Eisenbahnlinie unterliegt den Befehlen des Kaisers!" The soldiers shouted, the same phrase being echoed down the line as confused passengers stepped off of the train and into the crowd of soldiers. Natalia watched with wide eyes, horrified at the scene before her. Suddenly a firm hand gripped her by the arm.

"This way, Princess."

She shrieked and twisted out of his grip, pushing him back so that he staggered a few feet. "I can walk by _myself,"_ She hissed.

Prussia gave her an amused smile. "Alright, alright! No need to get pushy! We just need you to translate."

She followed a group of soldiers to the ticket booth. The man inside was shrunken and wrinkled, his black eyes darting nervously from one military face to another.

"Where is this train going?" Prussia asked, then glanced towards Natalia for her to translate.

"It is scheduled for Kiev," the ticket master replied. Natalia relayed this to Prussia.

"Not anymore!" He cackled. "This train is now departing for Konigsberg in ten minutes." He looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to translate.

This was humiliating. Not only was she being invaded, but she was being forced to tell her own people what to do in the name of Imperial Germany. But Natalia knew that she was powerless to argue, and so she informed the ticket master that the train was not to be going East into Russia, but Northwest to the Kingdom of Prussia. The man quickly agreed, his eyes shimmering with fear.

"Awesome!" Prussia pumped a victorious fist in the air. "Alright, Princess…you stay here for a moment and keep your people calm – I've got to help load these wounded soldiers onto the train."

She stared at him, incredulous. "You mean to tell me you are going to force these people off? Where will they go, they are supposed to be heading East!"

Prussia only laughed. "_I'll _tell you what's in the East: Frostbite, Russians, and not a single drop of good beer. You can't expect my soldiers to live out here without any _beer,_ can you?"

Natalia opened her mouth to reply, but the Prussian had already spun around and disappeared into raging river of frightened passengers and German soldiers. Her eyes darted from one panicked face to the next, heart fluttering wildly against her chest. They were scared – her people were _scared,_ and it was directly affecting her. She squeezed her eyes shut, wishing with all of her might that this was only a bad dream.

Just then she felt a small tug on her dress, and looked down to see a little girl looking up at her with huge brown eyes.

"Miss…" The girl asked in a trembling voice. "What are they going to do to us?"

Natalia knelt down and took the girl's cold hands in her own. "They will not hurt you," she said softly, hoping that her voice was stronger than she felt. "Everything is going to be okay. Do not worry, little one, Russia will save us."

But Natalia knew that her brother was in the midst of a Civil War, and that he was in the process of making peace with the Germans. As much as she didn't want to believe it, Ivan had abandoned her.

"Zugabfahrt in eine Minute in Richtung Konigsberg!" A German soldier announced. The girl was pulled away by the hand of her mother, those two round eyes vanishing in a moving forest of legs and suitcases. Natalia stood up and shuddered when she caught sight of a white head of hair coming towards her. She curled her lip in disgust and attempted to disappear in the crowd, but it was no use.

"Princess!" That annoying voice called through the crowd. She backed away further, but Prussia had already darted through the passengers. "There's this annoying guy on the car who won't get off!"

"What a shame." She growled.

Prussia scowled and grabbed her wrist. "Come on, we need your help. I don't want to _shoot _the dummkopf!"

"Let GO of me, you bastard!" She shrieked, digging her heels into the cement and trying to twist out of his grip. But Prussia was so strong that he pulled her through the throng of people with ease. Natalia stumbled after him and up the steps to the coach, where a German soldier stood at attention. As they entered the car, the chaos of the station was muffled, creating a strange sense of peace amid the turmoil of what was going on outside. Natalia scanned the rows of red cushioned seats.

The coach was completely empty.

She wheeled around to send a glare at Prussia. "What is this?" She demanded. "There is nobody here!"

"Wir sind jetzt der Abreise nach Königsberg!" The German from before announced. There was a groan as the train creaked to life, the steam engine hissing as the cars began to inch forward. Natalia's heart raced in her chest as she realized what was going on. She finally managed to rip her hand from Prussia's grip and bolted for the exit.

"Haltet sie fest!" Prussia shouted. "Sie darf den Zug nicht verlassen!"

Natalia ran straight into the soldier at the door, who was blocking it with his entire body.

"Let me off!" She yelled, but was only met with a cold lifeless stare. The cold air from outside rushed through the door as the train picked up speed, her hair fluttering behind her. The passengers and stationhouse began sliding by, faster and faster…

Natalia gave up reasoning with the soldier and darted between his legs, but she was grabbed from behind and pulled back onto the train. "No!" She shrieked, but it was useless. The door to the coach was shut with a slam and she was thrown into a seat. Prussia stood in front of her, his hands on his hips.

"Damn, you've got some guts attacking a soldier like that."

"You let me off of this train this instant!" She roared, trying to hide the fear that gripped her chest.

"Too laaate!" Prussia sang, his face split into that annoying grin of his. "Even if I wanted to there's no way we could stop the train."

Natalia's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, her fists clenched at her sides. "Where are you taking me?"

"Isn't it obvious? Konigsberg!"

"Why on earth would you have need for me in that hideous place," she hissed.

Prussia raised his eyebrows. "You're new to this game, aren't you? Haven't you ever been invaded before?"

She only glared at him. Prussia sighed, then bent down so that his face was only inches from hers. "Look, Princess. The Awesome Me has awesomely conquered you, and so now I get to take you back to my house."

Natalia's eyes widened in horror. Was that all she was to him? A _trophy? _She spat in his face, causing him to recoil away and furiously wipe off the saliva with his sleeve.

"Augh, gross!"

"You are a selfish tyrant." She growled.

"And _you're_ just rude." Prussia grumbled. "Seriously, that was gross. Don't do that again."

"If you speak another word to me I will do much worse than that."

Prussia eyed her, calculating whether or not he wanted to take his chances. At last he seemed to decide that it wasn't worth it, and so he shrugged and strode off to lounge in a different seat.

Natalia sat up and looked out the window, the frigid air rushing through and sending wisps of white hair brushing across her cheeks. Her heart gave a painful twist as she watched the dark outline of Minsk fade farther and farther into the distance, until it was nothing but a black speck amid a vast ocean of snow and ice.

Natalia had never been more scared in all of her life. Prussia was wrong – this was not the first time she had been invaded. But in the past it had always been Lithuania, who, as much as she hated him, would never lay a single finger on her. Or it had been her brother, but Ivan was always good to her. Only recently with the Revolution had he become slightly unstable, but she was sure that as soon as it was over that he would get better.

But Prussia was different. He was power-hungry, strange, and unpredictable. Despite all of her clawing and fighting, he had dragged her across the platform without a hitch. And now, he was taking her back to his god-forsaken house where there would be nobody to protect her. The only living soul on the train was the German officer blocking the exit, and she doubted that he would do anything to stop Prussia from hurting her.

Natalia shivered, realizing that her dress was still soaked from sitting in the snow. She brought up her knees and buried her head between them, curtains of snow white hair sliding forward.

It seemed that all at once her world had shattered into a thousand pieces – her life, her culture, her people, ripped out right from under her without a single gunshot fired. Natalia didn't care what people thought of her, as long as they didn't think she was…

_Weak._

There was a sharp pain somewhere inside of her heart. Her fingers curled around her knees, creating a tight cavity for her to hide her face in. Her entire body shook with shivers from the cold.

She only hoped that Prussia wouldn't realize she was crying.

**Translations:**

**Es tut mir leid, fraulein - Sorry, miss**

**Keine Bewegung! Minsk wird nun von Deutschland kontrolliert! - Don't move! The city of Minsk is now under German control!**

**Was ist los? - What is going on? **

**Alle Befehlsgewalt geht von uns aus. Außerdem brauche ich Züge, die für uns Verstärkung holen können. - We have complete control over the city. I need access to the rail lines to send in reinforcements.**

**Diese Eisenbahnlinie unterliegt den Befehlen des Kaisers! - This railway is now under the control of Imperial Germany!**

**Zugabfahrt in eine Minuten in Richtung Konigsberg! - Departure for Konigsberg in one minute! **

**Haltet sie fest! Sie darf den Zug nicht verlassen! - Stop her! Don't let her get off the train!**

**Historical Notes:**

**By the end of 1917, Europe had been ensnared in what was then called "The Great War" for three years. Imperial Germany, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Austrian-Hungarian empire had spread their borders across the majority of Europe. The Eastern front had been a brutal fight between Germany and Russia and there was no end in sight to the violence. But with the Russian Revolution of 1917, Russian soldiers began to overthrow their Generals and officers, abandoning their posts and heading back home to their families. Negotiations between Russia and the Central Powers began in December of 1917. The official treaty wasn't signed until March of 1918, but this left the East wide open to German invasion. **

**Minsk, the capital of Belarus, was captured by German forces on February 21, 1918.**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	2. Falling

**Ack, I am SO SORRY for the delay!** **I'm one of those horrible people who write several stories at once. Sorry, this chapter is a bit short...but I hope you enjoy!**

Sleep was impossible. Natalia's entire body trembled, her teeth clattering and breath coming in small puffs of vapor. She could barely feel her fingers or her toes, and her hair hung in mangled wet strands around her face. The only sound was the incessant _clack clack clack_ of the train tracks and the whistling tundra wind from outside.

Arms stiff from the cold, she pushed herself up from her seat to glance down the aisle. Locating Prussia was easy – his white tuft of hair stood out in the darkness. He had cocooned himself in a thick woolen military coat, the fabric rising and falling with each breath. Sticking out from the coat was the barrel of a rifle, and Natalia could tell that his arms were wrapped lovingly around the weapon. She curled a lip in disgust. How could he cradle a mechanism of death with such care? She glanced the opposite direction, squinting into the darkness to make out the figure of the German soldier slumped into one of the coach seats. His pointed helmet was tilted forward just enough to cover his eyes, and his shoulders rose and fell with the slow deep breathing of slumber.

Like the light of dawn peeking over the horizon, Natalia began to see her opportunity. She knew that escaping the train was impossible, but perhaps if she managed to slip into a different car, she could get off at the next stop and board another train back to Minsk.

Natalia grimaced as she forced her frozen legs to move, sitting upright and gripping the chair for support. She slipped off her heels, wiggling her toes to try and get back some circulation. Natalia slowly rose, delicate fingers clenched around her heels as she crept down the aisle towards the German soldier. She froze at every creak of the train, eyes darting first to the soldier and then back towards the slumbering nation of Prussia. As she neared, she saw that the soldier's rifle was leaned against the chair closest to the window. Natalia studied the man intensely, searching for any sign that he could be faking. After deciding that he was indeed sound asleep, she leaned across him and carefully curled her free hand around the rifle. Eyes never leaving the face of the soldier, she slowly drew the weapon out. It reached the soldier's face, when suddenly his chest rumbled with a deep growl.

Natalia's blood ran cold, her eyes widening in horror.

"Mmm… Schokolade… Es war eine so lange Zeit…"

The soldier's lips curled into a smile, and with a wave of relief Natalia realized that he must be talking in his sleep. She quickly drew the rifle back, slinging it over her shoulder and tip-toeing to the coach door. She stepped back into her shoes and straightened her back, taking a shuddery deep breath.

Opening the coach door would let in a whirlwind of frigid air, one that was sure to wake up her captors. But if she could scamper across the coupling fast enough, they might not be able to catch her before she disappeared into a different car. Natalia had no idea what would meet her there – wounded soldiers perhaps, all with rifles, all who would be wondering why a young woman in a dress was racing through the aisle. Natalia would have preferred to act natural, to pretend as though she belonged on this train and if any soldier dared look at her the wrong way they would be shot in the face. She had long practiced this façade, and was a professional at blending into places she didn't belong. Men were easy to manipulate, especially soldiers who hadn't laid eyes on a woman in months.

But there was no time for that here. Natalia knew she was taking a risk, but anything was better than being held captive by that disgusting Prussian. She was used to getting what she wanted, and she was did NOT want to be stuck here in this ice box with an obnoxious, egotistic, red-eyed asshole.

Natalia took a deep breath, clutched the rifle like a lifeline, and unlatched the coach door.

The wind was like a raging river of ice particles ripping into her entire body. She closed her eyes and shielded her face with an arm, taking a quick step out into the freezing air before slamming the door shut behind her.

Natalia couldn't see, couldn't feel anything but the stinging claws of the wind on her face. The platform was less than half a meter wide and coated in a thick layer of ice, tracks whizzing beneath it in a deadly blur. Natalia gulped and darted her eyes to the door of the next coach. It rattled with the train, the _clack clack clack_ and the roar of the wind making it impossible to hear anything else.

Natalia took a first shaky step. Her heel slid on the ice, but she kept her balance and brought forward her other foot. Biting her lip in concentration, she carefully put one foot in front of the other, scooting along the platform as her skirts and hair whipped around her in the shrieking wind.

She was halfway across the platform when it suddenly shuddered with the slam of a door being opened behind her. Natalia crouched to keep her balance. Someone shouted something, but she couldn't understand past the roar of the wind in her ears. The platform vibrated with heavy boot steps and panic jolted through Natalia's veins. She rose to her feet and scrambled towards the next coach, but her heels slipped on the ice. She let out a shriek as she fell forward, her frozen hands grasping the railing for support. She tried to stand, but the train took a sudden turn and she skidded across the platform. Her fingernails clawed at the ice, but it was no use as she slid towards the rushing darkness beneath the train. At the very last second, her frantic hands managed to grasp a small pole before her legs swept off of the platform.

_CLACK CLACK CLACK_ the train screamed as it whizzed over the tracks, closer, gnashing and waiting eagerly for her hand to slip. She kicked uselessly at the air, trying to catch some kind of latch. A heel slipped from her left foot and vanished into the black void rushing beneath her. There was a sickening CRUNCH as the metal wheels crushed the shoe. Natalia squeezed her eyes shut. Her entire body was so numb that she could no longer feel. She couldn't tell if her hand was slipping, she couldn't make sense of anything. All she knew was the raw fear pumping through her veins, the roar of the wind and the grinding of the ravenous train tracks beneath her.

There was a sudden jerk, and Natalia was overwhelmed with the horrid sensation of falling.

She screamed.

It was a few seconds before she realized that she wasn't dead. Natalia opened her eyes and realized she was not falling, but being hoisted up. The ice of the platform rose to meet her. Past the ice particles frozen onto her eyelashes, she managed to make out a pair of arms pulling her hand. It was a strange sensation, seeing these things but unable to feel. Someone shouted something again, but she couldn't hear past the screaming of the wind. Natalia felt in a daze, her legs trembling as she neared the soft yellow glow of the coach. She had often heard of a light at the end of the tunnel….Was this death?

The moment she stepped inside, the claws of the wind came to a halt. There was a shudder as the door slammed. Suddenly her legs gave out and Natalia fell to her knees, her lips frozen and body trembling as she stared wide-eyed at the wooden floor beneath her.

_I'm alive…_

Someone was shouting. Natalia couldn't hear past the ringing in her ears, the _clack clack clack_ and the crunch of her shoe echoing again and again. The sensation of touch began to slowly come back to her, her toes and fingers painfully throbbing as she thawed. She was vaguely aware of someone shaking her shoulder.

_"In…cess…. Prin…es…. Prince….PRINCESS!"_

Natalia's eyelashes fluttered as she stared up into two fiery eyes. Was this the devil? Had she gone to hell?

"Princess, snap out of it! Come on, come on…. HEY, WO IST DAS WARMWASSER BAT ICH UM IHR IDIOTEN!?"

The shouts dissolved into angry German that she didn't understand. Warm hands rubbed on her arms, and in between orders she heard a husky voice whisper, "Come on Princess… Hang in there… I've got you, everything's okay…. Mein Gott, you're as cold as ice…"

All at once her mind started to pick up speed again, and like a bolt of lightning she realized who this strange red-eyed man was.

Natalia shrieked and tried to back away, but she only collided into the legs of another soldier. Her body was still slow to move, and so she was helpless as she was hoisted up by the arms and forced into a coach seat. She squirmed and shrieked obscenities in her own language, hating this man, hating this train, hating that she had allowed herself to look so pathetically _weak _in front of him and all of these soldiers.

"Princess, STOP! Would you just - _calm down_ – Mein Gott – BELARUS!"

She froze at the sound of her nation name, eyes sharp and wild as she looked up at him. His hair was wind-blown from the blizzard outside, his nose bright red and lips tainted blue from the cold. They sat there for a moment, crimsons against cobalt blue, their gazes sharp and sparking in the air between them.

"Are you done screaming at me?" He snapped. Natalia had never seen such anger in his eyes, and it was frightening. "Because, you know, after I just saved your LIFE and all, I don't exactly expect a gold offering or even a thank you, but it would be nice if you would STOP SCREAMING AT ME and just – act like you at least WANT to be alive, okay? Can you do that, Princess, or would you rather me toss you off the train now and let it eat you up like a fresh hunk of cow meat?!" His voice had risen to such a volume that his it had cracked, and Natalia found herself shrinking against the back of the seat in fear. His eyes were like two burning coals, wild, untamed, passionate… _scared?_

Natalia did not answer.

Prussia looked down at her, waiting for a response. At last the fire died from his eyes and he let out an explosive sigh, rubbing his face with a gloved hand. "Mein Gott, Princess. Don't ever do that again. I could never live with myself if…" He trailed off, eyes now soft as he looked at her. Her skin crawled beneath that gaze and she glared at him, a silent warning to keep his distance.

"I would not have fallen if you had not come after me."

Prussia's eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to protest, but he was interrupted by a shout in German. All at once a swarm of people rushed around her, nurses checking her pulse, her feet put in a bucket of steaming water. All the while she could feel those two crimsons watching her, and she tried to do her best to ignore it. Prussia spoke urgently with a nurse, after which he sighed with relief and sent her a small smile. She glared back.

At last the crowd filed out, leaving her sitting once again alone on the coach, her nails closed around the heavy woolen blankets that draped over her shoulders. Natalia sat up straight in what she hoped was a dignified posture, looking sternly out the window and refusing to glance in the direction of her captor. For a few moments they rode in an uncomfortable silence, the swaying of the train and the faint clacking of the tracks seeming to be waiting for someone to speak.

"Have you ever been to Konigsberg?"

She did not answer.

"I'll take that as a no."

Natalia scoffed.

Prussia sighed and she imagined him reclining in his seat in the way that only egoists can. "Well you're going to love it, Princess. We've got beautiful churches, and rose gardens, and these Awesome ice cream cone stands where you can get like five million flavors." His voice suddenly brightened as he asked, "What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?"

Natalia scowled. The tyrant was attempting to start friendly conversation with her, and she would not allow it. "I do not want your disgusting ice cream."

Prussia cackled. "Yes you do! You just don't know it yet! Don't worry, I'll buy you every Awesome flavor so you can try them ALL. And if you don't like them, well… More for me! Kesesese!"

At last she turned her gaze from the window to send him an indignant look. "You are conducting the most devastating war Europe has ever seen, and you are concerning yourself with _ice cream."_

His face split into that infuriating grin. "Life's not all blood and battles, Princess. You gotta find the fun where you can get it."

She stared at him blankly. "Fun."

"Ja, _fun!_ Don't you ever spend time with your people doing stupid things, like drinking contests and polka dances and horse racing?"

Natalia could hardly believe what she was hearing. How had she allowed herself to be so easily captured by such a fool? "I am a nation, not a child. I do not have time for such nonsense."

Prussia's ruby eyes sparkled in the dim light of the coach. "But you're forgetting we represent the kids, too. You can't just shut yourself up in politics, Princess. Governments and borders suffer from a serious case of bi-polar disorder, but ice cream will probably taste just as Awesome today as it will a hundred years from now."

She stared at him a moment, trying to understand why the taste of ice cream had to do with politics. At last she turned her head back to the window. "You are an idiot."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

She whipped around to send him a murderous glare, but to her horror, he only winked at her. Natalia felt her cheeks burn and she quickly looked the other way. She could still feel his gaze, the silence becoming itchy.

"You know, it took some balls for you to try and escape like that."

Natalia stiffened. She knew he would warn her never to try again – he would threaten her with death, with pain, with torture.

"That was pretty Awesome, actually. Stole the rifle right under Schmidt's nose. HA! And you managed to get halfway across the platform in those heels." She sneaked a glance to see Prussia shaking his head, a small smile of wonder lifting at his lips. "You really are something."

Natalia's heart sped up in her chest and she felt her cheeks grow red again. Why was he saying these things? Come to think of it, he had been fairly kind to her this entire time. Natalia's stomach twisted with a new type of fear. She could deal with pain, but these strange acts of kindness and those smiles and the way that those eyes sparkled at her was not something she was accustomed to. She was an expert at fighting fire with fire, but his way of looking straight through her seemed to leave her disarmed and confused.

Natalia shivered and pulled the blankets tighter around her, her eyes flickering as the first church steeple darted through the window. _Soon this will all be over,_ She tried to convince herself. She would escape, or her brother would save her, or Prussia would do something idiotic and lose the war. _Anything_ to get her back home, away from this strange man who had the power to make her uncomfortable.

Natalia never turned her gaze from the window, but she was positive that soft crimsons watched her throughout the remainder of the night.

**Translations:**

**Mmm… Schokolade… Es war eine so lange Zeit… - Mmm...Chocolate...It's been so long.. XD**

**HEY, WO IST DAS WARMWASSER BAT ICH UM IHR IDIOTEN!? - HEY, WHERE'S THAT HOT WATER I ASKED FOR, YOU IDIOTS!?**

**(I will correct the translations as soon as I get a response from my German translators) **


End file.
